Saturday, February 28, 2015

MQ-1 PredatorPresident Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson are committed to more drone surveillance of U.S. borders – despite mounting evidence from the government’s own investigators that the border drone program is a monumental bust.

The DHS Office of the Inspector General released a report in January whose startling title, “CBP Drones are Dubious Achievers,” understates the extent of the drone program’s waste, ineffectiveness, and deception. While claiming that drones patrol the entire southwestern border, the report revealed that drone surveillance has been limited to small stretches of the nearly 2,000 mile border and that the costs of its flights were four times higher than drone officials had reported.[...]

We need lawyers' help in many immigration battles, but the process of applying for deferrments and work permits doesn't require a lawyer's services.

By Elvira Arellano, Sanctuary MovementFebruary 11, 2015

The history of Latin America, our history, is in great part a history of struggle against dependence, the struggle for independence. Independence from Spain and Portugal soon left Latin America dependent on the United States. The absolute nature of the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. assertion that it could do with the countries and the governments of Latin America as it pleased has haunted the Americas for a century. The Instability caused by military and political intervention maintained the poverty caused by unbalanced economic development as Latin America produced for its northern sponsor instead of for its people. The latest phase of this, the production of drugs for the massive illegal drug market in the United States, has made violence a way of life for once peaceful peoples.

Dependency affects us as individuals and families as well. It affects the relationships between women and men, between children and their parents. Latinos in the United States face the same dynamic once faced by their countries of origin. It is made worse because in our cultures humility is a virtue, while in the dominant culture of the United States, humility is seen as weakness.

In the midst of all this our community has struggled mightily against an unjust immigration system and the dissection of our families by cruel deportations. We have won at least a temporary victory with the President’s executive orders that could mean security and lives of dignity for as many as five or six million people. The vision that millions of children need no longer fear their parents will be gone when they come home from school should bring us a sense of empowerment. Even those of us whom the new orders won’t cover have a feeling of satisfaction.

The task remains ahead of us, beginning in May, to sign up millions of people for these deferments and work permits that the law now permits. The success of these sign ups is not only important for the families it is our best defense against future injustice, our best offense to ultimately change the immigration law and make legalization permanent. Here again the spectre of dependency haunts our community.

Everywhere I go I find that organizations are “getting ready” for the executive order applications. Sadly, most of our Latino organizations are dependent on financial support from grants, either from the government or from liberal foundations. In their “superior wisdom” our financial sponsors have determined that we need lawyers in charge of the application process. Meanwhile private attornies are preparing the make millions this year.

Let me be clear – we need lawyers in many of our immigration battles. I am thankful for the many dedicated attorneys that have helped our community. But the application process for the deferments and work permits – for what they call DACA and DAPA – does not require lawyers. You can get an application from the internet, collect your documents and fill it out yourself. Most of us will need some help – and we should be preparing to help each other. If we are made to be dependent on lawyers for this process it will limit the number of people who can apply and endanger our whole movement.

When Jesus told his disciples to feed the 5,000 with a few fish and loaves of bread he began a movement of sharing. It is said that all 5,000 were fed and 12 baskets were left over. The disciples today are planning to tell the five million to wait until they get enough attorneys – because that is what the people with the money are telling them. That is dependency. That is not getting ready. I’ll write more about this next week.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a preliminary injunction Friday blocking the Obama administration from detaining individuals seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the policy illegally aims to deter others from immigrating to the U.S.

"Such detention harms putative class members in myriad ways, and as various mental health experts have testified, it is particularly harmful to minor children," wrote Boasberg, of the District of Columbia.

More than 66,000 "family units," in addition to 57,000 unaccompanied minors, were apprehended at the border last summer while attempting to enter the U.S. Many of the women and children, coming from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in Central America, said they were fleeing violence.[...]

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

For [paralegal] Sischo, seeing the families struggle — families much like her own — was almost more than she could stand. On visits to her parents in Oregon, she struggled to maintain composure. “Every time I’ve gone home, I’ve just cried pretty much nonstop,” she said. “It’s grief and anger and hopelessness and confusion as to how this could happen and whether we’re making a difference.”

By Wil S. Hylton, New York Times MagazineFebruary 4, 2015

Christina Brown pulled into the refugee camp after an eight-hour drive across the desert. It was late July of last year, and Brown was a 30-year-old immigration lawyer. She had spent a few years after college working on political campaigns, but her law degree was barely a year old, and she had only two clients in her private practice in Denver. When other lawyers told her that the federal government was opening a massive detention center for immigrants in southeastern New Mexico, where hundreds of women and children would be housed in metal trailers surrounded by barbed wire, Brown decided to volunteer legal services to the detainees. She wasn’t sure exactly what rights they might have, but she wanted to make sure they got them. She packed enough clothes to last a week, stopped by Target to pick up coloring books and toys and started driving south.

As she pulled into the dusty town of Artesia, she realized that she still had no idea what to expect. The new detention center was just north of town, behind a guard station in a sprawling complex with restricted access. Two other volunteers had been in town for about a week and had permission from federal officials to access the compound the following day.[...]

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

WASHINGTON Failed trade and migration policies of the United States have exacerbated political problems in Honduras, leading to greater poverty and violence, says a recent report by the AFL-CIO.

The report identifies "two essential elements to understanding the current crisis" in Honduras, which is referred to in many media accounts as "the murder capital of the world" because of the extent of violence in society.

The two elements the report cites are:

--"Recent political and economic developments" in the country, including a 2009 military coup d'état, which unseated a left-leaning government and unsettled a period of relative peace in Honduran society;
--The "unfulfilled promise" of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

How US ‘Free Trade’ Policies Created the Central American Migration CrisisBy Michelle Chen, The NationFebruary 6, 2015

When tens of thousands of Central American migrant children streamed across the US-Mexico border last year, some in this country received them as refugees fleeing violence and poverty; others demonized the “invasion” from the south with bigoted panic. What many overlooked was that these “unaccompanied minors” weren’t just coming in search of new homes—they were actually sent; their migration had been sponsored by some of the biggest corporations in the hemisphere.

A new report from the AFL-CIO examines the migrant influx in the context of global trade programs, tracing the the migration from one key “trading partner,” Honduras, back to the chaos wrought by years of transborder economic exploitation. Labor activists say that as the United States exports misery to the south, “free trade” has plunged a generation of youth into free fall.[...]

Friday, February 20, 2015

If we want Central Americans to have the right to stay home and make change in their own communities, we'll have to - at the very least - stop making things worse for them with unfair trade pacts and military "aid."

Photo: Cristina Chiquin, Mujeres Ixchel

By Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson, TruthoutFebruary 20, 2015

On January 29, the Obama administration announced a proposal to provide $1 billion in aid to help El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras "address the lack of economic opportunity, the absence of strong institutions, and the extreme levels of violence that have held the region back at a time of prosperity for the rest of the Western Hemisphere."

According to an op-ed by Vice President Joe Biden in The New York Times the same day, these measures are needed to prevent problems like "the dangerous surge in migration" that occurred "last summer when thousands of unaccompanied children showed up on our southwestern border."[...]

About The Politics of Immigration

The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers is a book that goes beyond soundbites to tackle concerns about immigration in straightforward language and an accessible question-and-answer format. For immigrants and supporters, the book is a useful tool to confront stereotypes and disinformation. For those who are undecided about immigration, it lays out the facts and clear reasoning they need to develop an informed opinion. Ideal for classroom use, the updated and expanded 2017 edition provides a succinct overview of U.S. immigration history, policy, and practice, with detailed notes guiding readers toward further exploration.
Guskin and Wilson have written extensively on immigration and facilitated dozens of dialogues on the topic with students, community activists, congregations, and other public audiences. To arrange a dialogue or for more information, contact them at thepoliticsofimmigration@gmail.com.
To stay in the loop on author events and related resources, follow the book on Twitter (@Immigration_QA) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ImmigrationQA/).